Dash
punctuation mark
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the en dash –, generally longer than the hyphen but shorter than the minus sign; the em dash —, longer than either the en dash or the minus sign; and the horizontal bar ―, whose length varies across typefaces but tends to be between those of the en and em dashes.
Typical uses of dashes are to mark a break in a sentence, to set off an explanatory remark—similar to parentheses—or to show spans of time or ranges of values.
The em dash is sometimes used as a leading character to identify the source of a quoted text.
History
In her book on ellipsis, Ellipsis in English Literature: Signs of Omission, Anne Toner suggests that the first dash that has been found in printed English is from a letter in 1580 and the first use of the dash in English drama dates to a 1588 translation of Terence's Andria, by Maurice Kyffin, where it is composed of a line of hyphens:
In 1588 an edition of Terence's play the Andria was translated into English
by Maurice Kyffin and printed by Thomas East. This play seems to
contain the earliest markings of [the dash] in English drama [...].
On three occasions, a series of hyphens marks an incomplete utterance.
In two of the three instances, one character is interrupted by another.
In the second example, the speaker interrupts himself.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Dash” is punctuation mark. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Dash, punctuation and mark, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “punctuation mark” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q187819. The Library of Congress control number is sh85035832. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1580 and 1588.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dash” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.